In a bid to gain official governmental recognition for Alevi houses of worship, a prominent Alevi civil group has petitioned the European Court of Human Rights to help end what it defines as “decades of official discrimination” against the 6-12 million strong minority community.

In an exclusive interview Thursday with Sunday’s Zaman, İzzettin Doğan, president of the Alevi association Cem Foundation, said that he had officially petitioned the European Court of Human Rights in the wake of an Ankara court ruling earlier this month that found “no legal basis” for the recognition of Alevi places of worship, known as cemevis, in existing Turkish law.

The petition is the latest development in the frustrated quest of Alevis to gain recognition for cemevis in a Sunni-majority nation. “This issue cannot be left to the opinion of the government. This is a basic human right; it is the right to freedom of religion,” said Doğan.

Alevis practice a form of Shiite Islam that mixes Sufism with ancient traditions of Anatolian folk culture into a form of worship largely unique to present-day Turkey. Just what defines Alevism, however, varies widely within the religious community. “Some see it as simply a different practice of Islam; others see it as a completely different religion. Others say it is the very essence of Islam,” İstanbul Şehir University assistant professor of social sciences Talha Köse told Sunday’s Zaman on Thursday.

The religion’s unorthodox practices have for years made it the target of a state that has left Alevism out of text books on religion, has constructed mosques rather than cemevis in Alevi villages and has refused to recognize Alevis as a religious community distinct from orthodox Islam. Alevism has technically been banned in Turkey since the 1925 Closure of Dervish Lodges Law, which shuttered the country’s dervish and Sufi orders as the early republican state sought to limit the reach of both orthodox and non-orthodox forms of Islam.

Despite decades of state opposition to the Alevi community, however, Doğan’s petition to the European Court of Human Rights comes at a time when both Alevi foundations and voices from within the government say that attitudes are changing and a historic turn for Alevi rights may be nearer than imagined. “Mentalities are definitely changing, and the flow of change is going to be for the benefit of cemevis,” said Şule Toktaş, an assistant professor at Kadir Has University and coauthor of a recent Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) report on Alevism and the Turkish government.

Government reforms: built to pass?

If Alevism remains unrecognized by the state, it will certainly not be for a lack of talk. In 2009, the Turkish government announced an “Alevi opening” and made plans to hold a number of informal talks that would bring together prominent members of the Alevi community and high-ranking government ministers.

Sunday’s Zaman predicted in 2009 it was very likely after the year’s round of talks “Alevi dedes, or spiritual leaders, [would be] included on the payroll of the Religious Affairs Directorate and the Culture Ministry,” and further stated that cemevis might soon be listed “as places of worship whose utility bills are paid for by the state.”

2009 even saw the visit of President Abdullah Gül to a Tunceli cemevi -- the first president to ever visit an Alevi place of worship -- which was seen as an “implicit recognition” of the status of cemevis.

Yet Doğan and other Alevi leaders have said that talks, and the opening in general, have so far lacked concrete steps. “We talked with the [Labor and Social Security Minister], Faruk Çelik, several times. The legal status of cemevis was among the paramount topics and most officials from the Directorate of Religious Affairs agreed to the recognition of cemevis as houses of worship in legal terms,” Doğan said. “Yet when it comes to taking action, no one appears to dare because of the political pragmatism concerning Sunni votes.”

Doğan’s assessment of a government unwilling to reform is also indicative of the prevailing opinion in the Alevi community that the Directorate of Religious Affairs, which long allowed the state to regulate Islam in Turkey, is committed to maintaining Sunni power at the expense of Alevis.

“The majority of Alevis are against any effort by the Directorate of Religious Affairs,” said Şehir University Professor Köse. “They believe it doesn’t serve them -- they believe it is the main institution of Sunni power in Turkey. I don’t think that changing its policies will bring any positive change. In fact, with the announcement of the ‘Alevi opening,’ perhaps as many as two-thirds of Alevis thought the move was yet another escalation by the directorate against Alevis.”

The Religious Affairs Directorate neither allocates funds for Alevi activities nor pays the salaries of Alevi religious leaders. In effect, the directorate’s budget is reserved for the Sunni community.

Members of Turkey’s Alevi community also acknowledge a widespread loathing for the ministry that decades of resentment has created. According to prominent Alevi rights activist Hasan Saltık, such convictions have led to divisions in the community and hindered its ability to forward its own rights agenda. “There has long been a rift in the Alevi community between those who are loyal to the establishment and those who oppose it. It has prevented the improvement of rights and, in truth, the state knows this and exploits it,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.

Any attempt to reverse such suspicions among the Alevi community regarding the state may mean that major steps will be needed in the near future. “The state can do one thing right now to resolve the issue -- that’s a new constitution which protects Alevi rights, and this includes the committed protection of Alevis in years to come,” said professor Köse.

Others are more optimistic. “Gas costs and other expenses for cemevis will likely in a year’s time be covered by the Directorate of Religious Affairs, as it tries to adhere to a recent request from the European Commission. Things and mentalities are going to change,” said Toktaş.

Beyond grassroots

If progress for Alevis has stalled at the national level, however, in recent months it has seen impressive gains in province-by-province campaigns to win municipal recognition of cemevis.

In early January a request was submitted to the Mersin provincial council by a local Alevi advocacy group to request compensation for utility expenses from the municipality. In a remarkable show of solidarity, the Mersin council ratified the proposition unanimously. Even though Mersin Mayor Hasan Güzeloğlu voted down the proposition in the days following, numerous Alevi civil groups around Turkey soon announced plans to petition their own municipalities.

On Jan. 18, the Şanlıurfa branch of the Alevi Cultural Foundation officially requested to have some municipal funds to cover the cost of a newly constructed cemevi, a request the provincial foundation’s head, Kemal Atalar, says Şanlıurfa’s municipal council and mayor have looked upon “warmly.”

“The motion [for cemevi recognition] did not pass the governor in Mersin. But we don’t think there’s a chance of [a rejection] happening this time. We as Alevis show respect to all faiths; now we want others to show respect to our beliefs,” Atalar told the İhlas news agency on Wednesday.

But such steps, though encouraging, may not be enough for lasting change, say activists. “The status of cemevis is not the sort of thing which can be solved province by province on account of some good will measures. It warrants a serious decision from the government,” said Alevi activist Cafer Solgun to Sunday’s Zaman.

With Doğan’s appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, such change may be on the way. “I am sure that the court will decide in our favor; there can be no question when it comes to such abuses,” says Doğan.

If the European Court of Human Rights does mandate change, it will likely be a welcome step for a religious community which has for so many years found itself at odds with the state and Sunni society.

Picture: Cemevis have become the focal point of an Alevi activist group’s attempt to win broader rights from the government. The group says its attempt to win official recognition for cemevis is emblematic of the wider struggle of the Alevis. Photo: Sunday’s Zaman, Kürşat Bayhan.

In a bid to gain official governmental recognition for Alevi houses of worship, a prominent Alevi civil group has petitioned the European Court of Human Rights to help end what it defines as “decades of official discrimination” against the 6-12 million strong minority community.

In an exclusive interview Thursday with Sunday’s Zaman, İzzettin Doğan, president of the Alevi association Cem Foundation, said that he had officially petitioned the European Court of Human Rights in the wake of an Ankara court ruling earlier this month that found “no legal basis” for the recognition of Alevi places of worship, known as cemevis, in existing Turkish law.

The petition is the latest development in the frustrated quest of Alevis to gain recognition for cemevis in a Sunni-majority nation. “This issue cannot be left to the opinion of the government. This is a basic human right; it is the right to freedom of religion,” said Doğan.

Alevis practice a form of Shiite Islam that mixes Sufism with ancient traditions of Anatolian folk culture into a form of worship largely unique to present-day Turkey. Just what defines Alevism, however, varies widely within the religious community. “Some see it as simply a different practice of Islam; others see it as a completely different religion. Others say it is the very essence of Islam,” İstanbul Şehir University assistant professor of social sciences Talha Köse told Sunday’s Zaman on Thursday.

The religion’s unorthodox practices have for years made it the target of a state that has left Alevism out of text books on religion, has constructed mosques rather than cemevis in Alevi villages and has refused to recognize Alevis as a religious community distinct from orthodox Islam. Alevism has technically been banned in Turkey since the 1925 Closure of Dervish Lodges Law, which shuttered the country’s dervish and Sufi orders as the early republican state sought to limit the reach of both orthodox and non-orthodox forms of Islam.

Despite decades of state opposition to the Alevi community, however, Doğan’s petition to the European Court of Human Rights comes at a time when both Alevi foundations and voices from within the government say that attitudes are changing and a historic turn for Alevi rights may be nearer than imagined. “Mentalities are definitely changing, and the flow of change is going to be for the benefit of cemevis,” said Şule Toktaş, an assistant professor at Kadir Has University and coauthor of a recent Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) report on Alevism and the Turkish government.

Government reforms: built to pass?

If Alevism remains unrecognized by the state, it will certainly not be for a lack of talk. In 2009, the Turkish government announced an “Alevi opening” and made plans to hold a number of informal talks that would bring together prominent members of the Alevi community and high-ranking government ministers.

Sunday’s Zaman predicted in 2009 it was very likely after the year’s round of talks “Alevi dedes, or spiritual leaders, [would be] included on the payroll of the Religious Affairs Directorate and the Culture Ministry,” and further stated that cemevis might soon be listed “as places of worship whose utility bills are paid for by the state.”

2009 even saw the visit of President Abdullah Gül to a Tunceli cemevi -- the first president to ever visit an Alevi place of worship -- which was seen as an “implicit recognition” of the status of cemevis.

Yet Doğan and other Alevi leaders have said that talks, and the opening in general, have so far lacked concrete steps. “We talked with the [Labor and Social Security Minister], Faruk Çelik, several times. The legal status of cemevis was among the paramount topics and most officials from the Directorate of Religious Affairs agreed to the recognition of cemevis as houses of worship in legal terms,” Doğan said. “Yet when it comes to taking action, no one appears to dare because of the political pragmatism concerning Sunni votes.”

Doğan’s assessment of a government unwilling to reform is also indicative of the prevailing opinion in the Alevi community that the Directorate of Religious Affairs, which long allowed the state to regulate Islam in Turkey, is committed to maintaining Sunni power at the expense of Alevis.

“The majority of Alevis are against any effort by the Directorate of Religious Affairs,” said Şehir University Professor Köse. “They believe it doesn’t serve them -- they believe it is the main institution of Sunni power in Turkey. I don’t think that changing its policies will bring any positive change. In fact, with the announcement of the ‘Alevi opening,’ perhaps as many as two-thirds of Alevis thought the move was yet another escalation by the directorate against Alevis.”

The Religious Affairs Directorate neither allocates funds for Alevi activities nor pays the salaries of Alevi religious leaders. In effect, the directorate’s budget is reserved for the Sunni community.

Members of Turkey’s Alevi community also acknowledge a widespread loathing for the ministry that decades of resentment has created. According to prominent Alevi rights activist Hasan Saltık, such convictions have led to divisions in the community and hindered its ability to forward its own rights agenda. “There has long been a rift in the Alevi community between those who are loyal to the establishment and those who oppose it. It has prevented the improvement of rights and, in truth, the state knows this and exploits it,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.

Any attempt to reverse such suspicions among the Alevi community regarding the state may mean that major steps will be needed in the near future. “The state can do one thing right now to resolve the issue -- that’s a new constitution which protects Alevi rights, and this includes the committed protection of Alevis in years to come,” said professor Köse.

Others are more optimistic. “Gas costs and other expenses for cemevis will likely in a year’s time be covered by the Directorate of Religious Affairs, as it tries to adhere to a recent request from the European Commission. Things and mentalities are going to change,” said Toktaş.

Beyond grassroots

If progress for Alevis has stalled at the national level, however, in recent months it has seen impressive gains in province-by-province campaigns to win municipal recognition of cemevis.

In early January a request was submitted to the Mersin provincial council by a local Alevi advocacy group to request compensation for utility expenses from the municipality. In a remarkable show of solidarity, the Mersin council ratified the proposition unanimously. Even though Mersin Mayor Hasan Güzeloğlu voted down the proposition in the days following, numerous Alevi civil groups around Turkey soon announced plans to petition their own municipalities.

On Jan. 18, the Şanlıurfa branch of the Alevi Cultural Foundation officially requested to have some municipal funds to cover the cost of a newly constructed cemevi, a request the provincial foundation’s head, Kemal Atalar, says Şanlıurfa’s municipal council and mayor have looked upon “warmly.”

“The motion [for cemevi recognition] did not pass the governor in Mersin. But we don’t think there’s a chance of [a rejection] happening this time. We as Alevis show respect to all faiths; now we want others to show respect to our beliefs,” Atalar told the İhlas news agency on Wednesday.

But such steps, though encouraging, may not be enough for lasting change, say activists. “The status of cemevis is not the sort of thing which can be solved province by province on account of some good will measures. It warrants a serious decision from the government,” said Alevi activist Cafer Solgun to Sunday’s Zaman.

With Doğan’s appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, such change may be on the way. “I am sure that the court will decide in our favor; there can be no question when it comes to such abuses,” says Doğan.

If the European Court of Human Rights does mandate change, it will likely be a welcome step for a religious community which has for so many years found itself at odds with the state and Sunni society.

Picture: Cemevis have become the focal point of an Alevi activist group’s attempt to win broader rights from the government. The group says its attempt to win official recognition for cemevis is emblematic of the wider struggle of the Alevis. Photo: Sunday’s Zaman, Kürşat Bayhan.

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